The wind power sector is sparkling with dynamism in the province. However, according to a retired researcher from Hydro-Québec who has devoted most of his career to this technology, the financial benefits of wind energy are slipping into the hands of Quebecers.
Quebec’s wind potential is “considerable” and well mapped. The government, thirsty for energy, intends to take advantage of it. To achieve this, it entrusts the development of the wind power sector to private promoters. They must ally themselves with local communities, but still receive a large part of the profits.
“In the last 25 years, everything has been granted to the private sector through calls for tenders. What do we do next? asks Bernard Saulnier, who worked at the Hydro-Québec Research Institute from 1977 to 2006 before writing, with Réal Reid, Wind power at the heart of the essential energy revolutionpublished in 2009. The public company could become “project manager” of future wind projects, he pointed out in an interview with the Duty.
Mr. Saulnier deplores the absence of “wind income” which would make it possible, in one way or another, to redistribute to the people of Quebec the benefits generated by the power of the wind. Such a “rent” exists, according to him, for hydraulic energy: it is the affordable electricity rates and the contributions paid each year by Hydro-Québec to the State.
“At the time, Jean Lesage and René Lévesque had the wisdom to say that electricity is an essential collective good. It’s not something that we should privatize, but rather that we should entrust to a vertically integrated company, responsible for production, transport and distribution”, maintains Mr. Saulnier, who has the impression that this vision is fraying.
Last week, Hydro-Québec announced the seven energy production projects selected in the context of calls for tenders launched in 2021. The state-owned company does not participate in any of the six wind projects selected. Private companies, often foreign, such as EDF Renouvelables or Invenergy, lead the initiatives by partnering with MRCs or indigenous communities.
It’s a loss of revenue for society, and a loss of expertise for Hydro-Québec.
Hydro-Québec invests in certain wind power projects, but always with the help of private partners. The public company is thus participating, with Énergir and Boralex, in the Neiges project, located in Charlevoix, which is still at the development stage. This project, like other wind farms, risks harming certain endangered species, reported The duty in January.
According to Mr. Saulnier, the “phenomenal” wind resource in Quebec will not fail to meet the majority of the province’s energy needs. Initially a supporter of energy efficiency, he believes that the wind power industry will inevitably see significant development. If it is necessary to unearth 100 terawatt hours of energy by 2050, he estimates that three quarters will come from Aeolus.
“Soliciting the private sector with calls for tenders can be good for one-off projects,” he says. But right now, we are in a major project: we are talking about a new production equivalent to 50% of the current needs of Quebec, the development of which is spread over only 25 years. »
“Loss of Expertise”
Last January, the Minister of Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, confirmed the government’s desire to leave the development of the wind power sector to the private sector. Hydro-Québec, for its part, does not want to become a full-fledged operator of wind power facilities, since that deviates from its “expertise”.
In 1996, Mr. Saulnier was a member of the Public Debate Consultation Table on Energy, which submitted its report to the government of Lucien Bouchard. Its first recommendation, for wind energy, was to “recognize the wind as a collective public good” so that the Quebec community can “benefit fully from its wind income”.
History will not take this direction. In 1998, Hydro-Québec awarded contracts by mutual agreement for the creation of the first wind farms in the province, in Gaspésie. In 2003, under the government of Jean Charest, the state corporation established the model that continues today, by launching a call for tenders for 1,000 megawatts of wind farms.
Not all energy experts agree with Mr. Saulnier: some believe that it is better to leave some market share to the private sector. The latter can thus absorb part of the risks. Union members at Hydro-Québec are worried about the “denationalization of electricity” that is played out with each wind power contract awarded to a private promoter.
“It’s a loss of revenue for the company, and a loss of expertise for Hydro-Québec. We are a global reference in terms of hydroelectricity, but, for wind energy, we are told that we do not have the expertise in-house, and we are not looking to develop it either,” laments Dominic Champagne, from the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the majority of union members at Hydro-Québec.